5 Relationship Benefits of the Female Orgasm

How women's orgasms help us find and keep better quality mates.

Some of the benefits of female orgasm are obvious: Orgasms enhance women’s sexual pleasure and the sexual satisfaction of their partners as well (Heiman et al., 2011). Women’s orgasms may also aid in conception by facilitating sperm retention (Thornhill et al., 1995). However, some other benefits are both unconscious and very surprising.

Orgasms help woman evaluate the quality of a partner.

The frequency of heterosexual women’s orgasms is associated with their male partner’s mate quality in a variety of ways, leading researchers to propose that women’s orgasms function in part to help guide them toward better-quality partners.

1. Genetic quality.

Women who report more orgasms during sex also tend to have partners who are, physically, more symmetrical (Thornhill et al., 1995). Bodily symmetry is associated with good genetic quality; both men and women who are more symmetrical have been found to be healthier and to live longer (Perilloux et al., 2010). Symmetry is also associated with physical attractiveness. Men and women who are more symmetrical are typically judged as more attractive (Weeden and Sabini, 2005), and women partnered with more attractive men also report more frequent orgasms during sex (Puts et al., 2012; Sela et al., 2015). Since both symmetry and physical attractiveness are considered indicators of good genetic quality, women’s orgasms may help to unconsciously guide them toward partners of better genetic quality (Puts et al., 2012; Sela et al., 2015; Thornhill et al., 1995).

2. Genetic compatibility.

Interestingly, women’s orgasms not only reveal whether a heterosexual partner has good genes, but whether he has the right genes as well. Heterosexual couples who have dissimilar immune genes may conceive offspring with enhanced immunity. Researchers have found that women who share fewer immune genes with their male partners also report more frequent orgasms (Garver-Apgar et al., 2006). In this case, orgasms may unconsciously facilitate conceiving a child with a stronger immune system.

Your orgasm can even inform you about your mate’s personality. Women who have more frequent orgasms are more likely to rate their partners as more creative, as having a good sense of humor, and as being high in self-confidence (Gallup et al., 2014).

Your orgasms can help you keep your partner.

Women’s orgasms not only help women to find a good partner but also function to help maintain a relationship with a good partner through increased pair bonding, and decreased risk of infidelity.

1. Bonding

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide which facilitates relaxation and pair bonding (Meyer, 2007). Orgasm in both men and women causes oxytocin levels to increase (Meston and Frohlich, 2000), which can stimulate feelings of romantic love (Schneiderman et al., 2012). Oxytocin may also help to maintain fidelity in monogamous romantic relationships (Scheele et al., 2012).

2. Afterglow

Further, couples that experience a longer “sexual afterglow,” or extended period of sexual satisfaction following intercourse, report more marital satisfaction over time and may be at a decreased risk for infidelity. (Meltzer et al., 2017)